Such so-called (full) metal self-inking hand stamps have been known for a long time, cf. U.S. Pat. No. 454,499 A, and have been appreciated for their robustness and long useful life. The frame, also called stamp housing, usually consists of a steel sheet part which, after having been cut out or punched out, is bent accordingly, cf. e.g. also AT 1 185 U1, FIG. 5. When actuating the hand stamp, i.e. when making a stamp imprint, the actuating bow is moved downwards along the frame that has been put onto a substrate, wherein the legs of the actuating bow, which is U-shaped in elevation, are displaced along the outer sides of the side walls of the frame. A tube attached on top of the cover plate of the frame allows for guiding and position-safeguarding, which tube is telescopically insertable into a corresponding tube or the like receiving means in a handle on the actuating bow, the tube usually containing a helical compression spring, cf. e.g., also AT 380 836 B or AT 1 659 U1. An additional guiding of the legs of the actuating bow on the side walls of the frame is obtained in that the bow legs are coupled with a turning axle or with axle stubs of the type unit, e.g. a simple stamp plate or a unit with belt types, the ends of this axle or of these axle stubs being guided in a slot guide in the side walls of the frame. However, neither this axle guide nor the telescopic tube are intended as the guide proper for the actuating bow on the frame, much rather these components a priori have other functions and, therefore, malfunctions to the point of canting or self-locking of the actuating bow on the housing of the hand stamp may very well occur.
For this reason, hood-shaped guiding parts of plastics material put on the frame have already been suggested in the past, cf. the afore-mentioned AT 1 185 U1 or also AT 1 659 U1, so as to guide the actuating bow on the metal frame by said hood-shaped guiding part. In this hood-shaped guiding part, also an insertion compartment for an ink pad holder has been provided above the metal frame. Therefore, the upper cover wall of the frame had to be provided with an appropriately large opening for the passage of the stamp types so that the latter ones can get into contact with the ink pad located thereabove when they are in their upper inking position.
These hood-shaped guiding parts cause, however, substantial expenditures when producing and assembling the hand stamp. This is the more so for a steel/plastics composite design of frame and actuating bow, such as proposed in AT 501 318 B1, or also in DE 295 21 420 U1, e.g., where metal parts are received in fitting plastics parts. Moreover, the large opening in the cover wall of the frame negatively affects the strength and stability of the latter.
In the initially mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 454,499 A, a possibility for an insertion guide of an ink pad holder directly in the metal frame has already been shown, wherein resting projections are provided in that either lugs are punched out of the side wall of the frame and bent inwards, or in that angle brackets are riveted to the side walls of the frame, on the inner side thereof. Such inwardly riveted angle brackets may, however, cause restrictions in terms of dimensioning and movability of the type unit during turning and downward and upward movements thereof, apart from the fact that the attachment of angle brackets in the inner space of the stamp frame is comparatively cumbersome. If the resting projections are formed by legs which have been punched out and bent, an exact production will be necessary since otherwise the ink pad holder will either knock against the bent lugs and thereby obviate its proper insertion in the frame, or the fit for the ink pad holder in the upper region of the frame will only be a loose one so that the ink pad holder may unintentionally fall out of the hand stamp. Therefore, time and again, in practice, with the bent-out lugs, comparatively complicated readjustments are necessary.